Federal Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes introduced a timeline on Monday for Detroit’s bankruptcy plan. The timeline, which calls for a hearing to decide the plan’s approval in mid-June, has received strong backlash from both pensioners and bondholders. The proposal would reduce Detroit’s debt to its creditors and allow the city to invest $1.5 billion dollars on improvements over the next 10 years, but instead of caring for the city’s financial sustainability, Detroit’s pensioners and bondholders are worried about their individual prosperity. Instead of focusing on personal gains, they should take balanced cuts now in order to save the city in the long term.

Detroit’s economy has long been fueled by manufacturing and continues to serve as the home of the recovering American automobile industry. The city’s history is as unstable as its current economic state. Though prosperous through the mid-twentieth century, Detroit slowly began losing manufacturing jobs in the city to opportunities in the suburbs in the 1960s, leading to a reduction in its working class. Later, Detroit faced the infamous 1967 riots and a growth in its drug trade, pushing the remaining businesses and middle-class families out of the city. Since 1950, Detroit has lost nearly 60 percent of its population.

Now, seven months after Detroit filed for bankruptcy, the city has come up with a solution to its insolvency. The proposal would grant certain unsecured creditors only 20 cents on the dollar. Retired cops and firefighters would only receive 96 percent of their pensions and other retired municipal workers around 74 percent of their pensions. It also includes a plan to invest $1.5 billion dollars in infrastructural improvements.

But Detroit’s creditors do not want to hear it. Leaders of a planned protest in favor of pensioners gathered in a church on Sunday and promised to shut the city down if the proposal is approved. They offered an alternative plan that entails cutting payouts to banks and bondholders. What the pensioners do not understand is that the proposal they are opposing is hostile enough to bondholders. The damage they are suggesting be done creates more risks and could increase future borrowing costs.

Detroit is bankrupt and $18 billion in debt. It simply cannot afford to pay off everyone. The faster its pensioners and bondholders come to a reasonable agreement, the sooner the city can rebuild and improve. If the involved parties cannot reach a consensus, much more will be at stake than pension payments. This proposal may decide Detroit’s fate. If the city and its people aim to restore Detroit to its former glory, they must come together. Otherwise, Detroit will sink into further financial ruin.

A version of this article appeared in the Thursday, Feb. 27 print edition. Adam Fazlibegu is a staff columnist. Adam’s Angle is published every Thursday. Email him at [email protected].